NY Times Explores 'Alt' Display; Eye On Mobile Display

On Digiday, Josh Sternberg looks at the New York Times R&D efforts for advertising as it searches for alternatives for the standard display ad unit. Sternberg quotes the NYT’s Todd Haskell, group VP of advertising, “This is a way for us to engage with a client where we might use standard banners, but it lets us engage with clients before they go out into programmatic channels, which is something that’s strategically important for us. So when we do these kinds of things, this kind of stuff cannot be replaced by an audience extension play versus via some trading desk.” Read more.

Facebook Ad Differences

Inside Facebook’s Brittany Darwell takes a long form look at the differences between Facebook’s many ad formats. Among other insights, she notes creative differences from Facebook Exchange ads being delivered on Facebook’s right siderail: “Marketplace Ads that aren’t bought through the Facebook Exchange can include a call to action, such as a Like button or Use Now button, as well as social context about how many users Like a page or use an app.” Read it.

Mobile Display Needs

Martin Bryant on The Next Web casts a critical eye toward Facebook’s mobile display advertising efforts. He writes, “Facebook could benefit from a way of making clear that a certain mobile app isn’t relevant. ‘Hide this advert’ and ‘Hide all ads from (x advertiser)’ are useful options on the desktop version of Facebook – let’s see them in the mobile apps too. Ads are a fact of life and I’m happy to be advertised to, but at least let me fine-tune their relevance.” Read more.

Cereal to Cars

Kellogg’s VP Global Media, Betsy Lazar, is heading to Team Detroit, an agency founded to serve one client, Ford. (Press release.) Both brands are early movers in programmatic media. Coincidence?! It’s worth noting Kellogg’s audience buying vision has been articulated most clearly by Bob Arnold (AdExchanger columns) -- who is staying put -- not Lazar.

History Data

Obama overturned an arcane law preventing Netflix from fully participating in the Facebook user experience. The Hill reports, “The Video Privacy Protection Act [of 1988] banned the sharing of any video history information without written consent by the consumer for each video or a warrant from the police.” On first glance this may not seem like a big deal for ads, but it lets Netflix push viewing actions into the social graph -- including paid media. Read more.

Amazon Juggernaut Update

Dipping into some Bernstein analyst research, The Wall Street Journal profiles Amazon Web Services (AWS) which provides the backbone for many an ad technology company, and in turn, agencies and direct marketers. The WSJ's Miriam Gottfried writes, "To realize its ambition, Amazon plans to borrow from its retail strategy and combat rising competition from companies like Google GOOG -0.20% and Rackspace Hosting RAX +0.06% largely on price. Amazon has cut prices 23 times since it rolled out AWS in 2006." Read more (subscription).